Keep or sell: co-heir buyout calculator
When several heirs inherit one house, there are two clean ways forward: one of you keeps it and buys the others out, or you sell and split the proceeds. This calculator shows the math for both — who pays whom what in a buyout (including offsetting it against the rest of the inheritance), and what every month of waiting costs each of you. The numbers are the same whichever side of the decision you’re on.
Who shares the home?
These shares drive both calculations below and the printable breakdown.
Names are optional labels for the printout. They stay in your browser — nothing on this page is saved or sent to us.
If one of you keeps the home
One heir keeps the house and buys out the others' shares of the equity. The math is the same whether you're the one keeping or the one being bought out.
If you sell — and what waiting costs meanwhile
Every month the house sits, someone pays taxes, insurance, and upkeep. This shows the monthly cost, how it splits across the heirs, and what it does to each share of a future sale.
A keep-vs-sell standoff is rarely about the math alone. A childhood home can feel like the last piece of a parent, and grief often shows up as holding on. Families in this spot often bring in a mediator or family counselor before lawyers — a neutral third person is usually cheaper, faster, and easier on the relationships than a courtroom. If it does reach a true impasse, courts can generally order a co-owned property sold and the proceeds divided (a “partition action”); how that works varies by state, so talk to a probate attorney well before it gets that far.
Find a vetted advisor or probate attorney